 |
|
|
Health Check
Wellness Clinic - Provide Budget & comprehensive screening
package
Log in
www.healthcheck.sg for
detail
|
Nice Guys Finish First
Volunteering your services can be an excellent way to form new business
relationships and raise your business's profile while lending a hand to a good cause.
However, unless you take care, it can also become all-consuming, with little return
(besides creating good karma). There is nothing wrong with good karma, or better yet, feeling good about lending a
hand in the community. The whole point of volunteering should not solely be to
expand your marketing. If it is, you won't get very far (read reincarnated as a dung
beetle). You should honestly be concerned about the project you chose to support.
Doing your best for the project at hand must come before your desire to network.
Those who join a cause for purely selfish reasons are usually uncovered. Potential
contacts become turned off and few people will do business with those with
questionable ethics. So how do you get more from your efforts than a warm glow? One method is, to choose a cause that needs someone with your expertise and will
allow you to showcase your talents. Major organizations (Lions, United Way, etc.)
usually have well-established hierarchies, and positions are often taken, but they
offer a better opportunity to build relationships with movers and shakers. One-time
events take less time in the long run and can provide a better chance for publicity. Working with influential people, is more likely to make a difference to your career.
Stuffing envelopes may be just as crucial to the cause, but you are unlikely to get
much recognition or a chance to build rapport. Once you've volunteered, don't rush into "making contacts". As you work together,
conversation will run the gamut, from weather to the kids, and inevitably, to
business. It's a friendly, natural way for people of influence to get to know you. These people may or may not need your services, but chances are they know those
who do. If they are impressed by your work on the project, they are likely to refer
you to others. You have made valuable contacts. Contacts who can last a lifetime. If you have taken a leadership role in creating a campaign, organizing volunteers,
raising funds, or performed other key functions, you may discreetly blow your own
horn. Do it discreetly, but do it, because it is all too easy to have your participation
overlooked. Because they donate large sums of money, large corporations often
take the spotlight away from individual volunteers. That's not to knock
corporations, because without their contributions many projects would falter. Those
in charge of volunteer projects maybe aware of the value you bring, however they
may not realize the importance of public recognition to a small business. If they do,
they may no know how to help you get that recognition. Although your efforts were vital to producing a successful project, you won't
automatically receive any collateral marketing opportunities. It is up to you to get
the word out. Your, or your company's, involvement in an important cause might be
news to the local newspaper, and it might also be worthy of mention in an industry
publication. A graphic monthly may be interested in a design firms involvement in a
good cause. Likewise, an accounting periodical might like to know about an
accountant's involvement in fundraising. Send press releases to media that are
related to your field. Write them in proper press release language. If you don't know
how, buy a book or hire someone who can write press releases. It's worth the cost. Take care not to bite off more than you can chew. Becoming too involved and
spending an inordinate amount of time for the cause, will send out mixed
messages. To some, you are unselfishly dedicated; to others, it's a sign that your
business is slow or you don't know how to manage your time properly. Know when
to say no. Volunteering is a great opportunity to meet people and grow your business, but do
it because you love it, not for the business reward. Keith Thirgood, Creative Director Capstone Communications Group Helping businesses get more business through innovative marketing http://www.capstonecomm.com/ Markham, Ontario, Canada
905-472-2330 Subscribe to Thrive-on-line
http://list.capstonecomm.com/mail.cgi?f=list&l=thrive_on_line
|
Get Checked Before
Complication Strike Log on to
HealthCheck.sg - All
nationalities welcome to enjoy the privilege and offer corp
price .
|
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Marketing Strategy - Spell Out Your Unique Value
I attended a "Sales Focus" seminar a few years back in which the speaker asked this key question. "Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me, would I want to buy from you?" What a great question.
Eight Steps To A Great Marketing Plan
Step 1: Where Am I Now?
How Simple, Small Changes Can Add Real Money To Your Pocket
I want to share with you a story. This story happens everywhere and everyday in America . If you grasp the simple lesson from it, you can make more money each month without working harder or spending more.
How to Turn a Marketing Calendar into Marketing Success!
Do you have a list of marketing ideas that you'd like to implement, but just never seem to get around to actually doing some of them? Who has the time?
Build Your Business Through Networking
Here's one of the most important success principles you'll ever learn. It is this: The more people you know and who know you in a favorable way, the more successful you will be in your business or profession.
Universal Principals That Guide Business Growth
Universal principals are those "self-evident" truths that have guided brilliant minds and withstood the test of time.
Top 10 Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Writer to Write Your Marketing Materials
1. It costs less to delegate to a professional than to waste your valuable time trying to do it yourself. How many prospective clients could you call in the time it takes you to put the words together yourself?
Effective Use of Promotional Products and Ad Specialties
1. Determine the goals of your promotional products program. Do you want to create awareness? To attract new customers? To reward or provide incentives to existing customers? Remember to determine a means for measuring the results.
The Fundraising Letter PS: 25 Powerful Things To Say There (Includes Examples & Samples)
Donors read postscripts. This is a sad but important reality in fundraising. Sad because the PS is stupid and belongs in another millennium. In this age of word processors, no one needs to add a PS anymore. But important because a donor reading a PS is a donor looking for information. And that's your opportunity.
13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style
Each year, the Super Bowl provides marketers opportunity to study and learn from the games' advertisers, players, and coordinators. Super Bowl XXXVI (February, 2002) was no exception. Foremost, of course, was The Game's appropriately patriotic theme. America's mettle and proud heritage were showcased to the world through this year's red, white, and blue logo; music selection by the performers; and depictions of historic U.S. icons. The Game further supported U.S. patriotism through the presence of the armed services, police department, and fire department at the game as well as interviews with troops in Afghanistan. Finally, as if by design, the unlikely Patriots won the championship.
How Can I Break Into Cliques?
Have you ever gone to a networking function and seen THE person who you feel could help you most there, except that person is surrounded by people ALL the time? Have you ever tried to enter into a conversation with that circle of people, only to have gotten the feeling you were intruding? How do you get an audience with a person who is constantly surrounded by "gatekeepers"? This happens often at gatherings that do not have a structured agenda- in other words in places where open networking is promoted. Here's an effective approach to meeting the person you want to meet.
The Value of a Customer
The Driver of All Marketing Efforts
How to Measure the Benefit Your Product or Service Offers
Measuring the benefit of your product or service means putting a specific value on the advantage it offers. For example, it's ineffective to say your light bulbs are brighter and last longer than the competition's. You've got to let people know that they're 50% brighter and last two times as long! Your dry cleaning methods aren't just better, they're three times more likely to remove stubborn stains than traditional methods. Your chiropractic techniques aren't just effective, they're clinically proven to reduce back pain for 95% of patients. And so on.
Making Your Mark With The Millennials
Generation Y--The second-largest crop of young people in America's history, offspring of the Boomers-80 million of them, nearly 27 percent of the U.S. population-are in their late teens and 20s, and already a market force to be reckoned with.
Creative Emulation
In business we have a number of ways or tools that we use to stimulate improvement. Most of us could recite these in our sleep:
How Important is Your Marketing?
Bob called last week from Phoenix, Arizona with some stunning news about his web site. He first contacted me in the fall of 2003. He had a web site that was helping him generate a healthy income but he sensed he could be doing even better. He wanted to get more visitors to his web site and get more of them to contact him about his retail liquidation services.
Small Business Marketing Tip - Focus on a Niche or Target Market
I think selling and marketing today often feels a bit like talking to a brick wall and that in interesting metaphor to help grasp the importance of niche marketing especially when it comes to small business marketing. Imagine for a moment that you are attacking that brick wall with a hammer, randomly hitting it everywhere. What would be the effect? Practically no effect at all. You might knock off a few chips but come back a day or so later, there will be no evidence you were even there.
Marketing On The Cheap: Become a Joiner
Recently I wrote an article on the benefits of joining your local Chamber of Commerce as a way of getting exposure for your business. See "Marketing on the Cheap: Join The What?" at this source or at http://sbmag.org. The Chamber of Commerce is or should be the number one organization in your area promoting business. Your involvement will help them indirectly help your business while giving you direct exposure to a large and viable market.
10 Reasons Why Businesses Fail at Marketing.
1) They don't fully understand it.
Questioning the Data of Demographic Off The Shelf Marketing Products
I have been working on a direct mail campaign for our team in many areas and we are finding that the yellow page listings and business list CDROMS contain so many closed companies that we are spending too much on the mailings which are opened a little less because of the anthrax scare. Even customized lists are of little value. No one is keeping these lists fresh and deleting the ole data. Book of Lists are outdated as soon as they come out, CDROMS rip people off by disallowing lots of search downloads, yellow pages forget it. Phone numbers are wrong, addresses are wrong as a matter of fact most business parks are 30% unoccupied, downtowns about 15% and industrial areas about 28% nationwide, so with all these jobs and companies gone, there is no one keeping track of the data. Yet we are told the recession is over? Whatever. Are we judging by the stock market? Because it is not real either.
|